Urgent Care by Minda Wilson: May 2018

It has been said that public confidence in vaccines is declining.

The thing is the problem is not really with the vaccines; it is with the people who are waging a war against vaccination.

First, it was the people who felt that their children got autism because they were vaccinated. In addition, Thimerosal, which is the preservative used in most vaccines is not given in a high enough dose to be impactful. If you get a flu shot, you get less Thimerosal than you would get in eating half a tuna sandwich. Unless you are allergic or have taken fish out your diet and your family’s diet. You have no excuse of not getting vaccinated. This has totally been debunked.

Second, the growing number of people who refuse to vaccinate their children is also a problem. Diseases we once thought were eradicated in the US are now back. Measles, mumps, polio, etc. are making a comeback. The failure to vaccinate your children makes them vulnerable to people who carry these diseases. People from all over the world come here to visit. In certain places, over the generations, natural immunity to these diseases has developed. This is because, like the Pilgrims who gave smallpox infected blankets to the Indians, the ones who survived developed an immunity and, through breastfeeding, hopefully, passed it down. Those who missed exposure, such as prior generations who received vaccinations, had nothing to pass. If you choose not to vaccinate your child, you are putting them at risk.

Publicity about the recurrence of these diseases, makes people think that it is the vaccinations that are no good. This is far from the truth. It is the failure to vaccinate that has brought back these diseases from the brink of extinction.

Third, and very sadly, the strains picked to put in the flu vaccinations, in recent years, have missed the mark. This has made very vulnerable people who are exposed become very sick. Some have even died. It is the mismatch, not the vaccination. Studies have shown that if you are vaccinated every year, over time, you can develop a broader spectrum of immunity against any type of flu. This means that if you do get sick, you will be less sick, than if you had been exposed to the same strain of flu without any immunity.

The most important thing in all this is that skipping vaccinations puts you and your family at risk.